Publications by authors named "Cavani A"

Wound healing is a dynamic and complex process, characterized by the coordinated activities of multiple cell types, each with distinct roles in the stages of hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The cells of the immune system not only act as sentinels to monitor the skin and promote homeostasis, but they also play an important role in the process of skin wound repair. Skin-resident and recruited immune cells release cytokines and growth factors that promote the amplification of the inflammatory process.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of young people have been reported, often with possible differences between the sexes. This study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the differences in mental health status and healthy behaviors between adolescent males and females.

Methods: An online questionnaire exploring sociodemographic characteristics, living conditions, mental health, behaviors, and relationships during the implementation of the COVID-19 social restriction measures, was administered to 16-18 years old high school students living in the metropolitan area of Turin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channels are expressed on the surface of different cell types, including immune cells. However, TRPA1's role in the context of innate and adaptive immune responses has not been fully elucidated so far. In this study, we aimed at investigating the expression and function of TRPA1 channels on NK cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants arriving in host countries irregularly have not infrequently been perceived as increasing the COVID-19 burden. Italy is a transit and destination country for migrants who cross the Central Mediterranean route and, during the pandemic, all migrants who landed on Italian shores were COVID-19 tested and quarantined. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 infection among migrants who landed on the Italian coasts by analyzing both incidence and health outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Mental health services utilization decreased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. For persons who are highly vulnerable and at risk of health and social care exclusion, restrictions negatively affected the accessibility to treatments and their mental conditions.

Methods: All psychiatric and psychological interviews carried out at National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP) Italy from January 2018 to February 2022 were included in the study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Besides their primary role in hemostasis, platelets contain a plethora of immunomodulatory molecules that profoundly affect the entire process of wound repair. Therefore, platelet derivatives, such as platelet-rich plasma or platelet lysate, have been widely employed with promising results in the treatment of chronic wounds. Platelet derivatives provide growth factors, cytokines, and chemokines targeting resident and immigrated cells belonging to the innate and adaptive immune system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A medical anthropology research study was conducted in 2015 at the First Aid and Reception Center (CPSA) on the island of Lampedusa (Italy) as part of a larger health project carried out by the National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP) in Rome. The study investigated the health conditions of migrants at the moment of their departure and on arrival, their migration journey, and their life plans and expectations for the future. The ethnographic method adopted for the study was based on participant observation and on data collection by means of a semi-structured interview (51 items simultaneously translated by cultural mediators into Tigrinya, Arabic, English, and French).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

PI3K pathway plays a crucial role in dendritic cells (DCs) functions, as it regulates different cellular processes, such as maturation and cytokines production. However, the specific role of PI3K p110δ isoform in human DCs has not been thoroughly addressed. In this study, we analyze the effects of seletalisib, a potent and specific inhibitor of PI3K p110δ, on phenotype and antigen-presenting functions of monocyte-derived DCs undergone maturation via LPS.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Characterization of tumor associated lymphocytes (TILs) in tumor lesions is important to obtain a clear definition of their prognostic value and address novel therapeutic opportunities. In this work, we examined the presence of T helper (Th)17 lymphocytes in cutaneous melanoma. We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of a small cohort of primary melanomas, retrospectively selected.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Noninvasive methods are useful for investigating patients with chronic HBV infection. The severity of liver disease in inactive HBsAg carriers can be noninvasively assessed by transient elastography (TE) alone or in association with biochemical markers of fibrosis.

Objectives: The study evaluates the effectiveness of the TE compared to common fibrosis scores (FSs), APRI, Forns Index, and FIB4, for identifying significant fibrosis in Italian and foreigner HBsAg carriers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Whilst the importance of keratinocytes as a first-line defense has been widely investigated, little is known about their interactions with non-resident immune cells. In this study, the impact of human keratinocytes on T cell effector functions was analyzed in an antigen-specific in vitro model of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) to nickel sulfate. Keratinocytes partially inhibited T cell proliferation and cytokine production.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The effects of Sars-Cov-2 pandemic may increase vulnerability of migrants.

Aims: To investigate the effects of the governmental lockdown on the mental health of vulnerable migrants in treatment at an outpatient department.

Method: In a telephone survey post-migration living difficulties and psychopathological symptoms were investigated, particularly post-traumatic thoughts and nightmares, anxiety, depression, feelings of tension and irritability, other sleep problems, as well as COVID-19 related fears.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immigrants show higher adjusted diabetes prevalence than Italians, especially among South-East Asians followed by North and Sub-Saharan Africans. Diabetes progression is influenced by food behaviors, and diet control is a critical aspect in disease management. Food habits have many cultural and symbolic implications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Chagas Disease (CD) is endemic in many Latin-American countries, Bolivia in particular. It is now spreading in Italy as a host country for transcontinental migrants and becoming an emerging health problem. This anthropological action-research, as part of a wider medical project on Neglected Tropical Diseases, has the purpose of analyzing the sociocultural construction of CD and its representation in Bolivian people living in Rome as well as barriers, such as the stigma about the illness, to access the National Health Service for those potentially affected.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: This study aimed to address the prevalence of infectious diseases in a population of unaccompanied immigrant minors living in reception centres of Rome, Italy.

Methods: The study was carried out from January 2013 to January 2019. All unaccompanied immigrant minors were screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis and latent tuberculosis infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Lockdown measures in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can have serious mental health effects on the population, especially in vulnerable groups, such as those living in poor socio-economic conditions, those who are homeless, migrant workers and asylum seekers/refugees. In addition, these vulnerable groups frequently have greater difficulty accessing health services and in treatment adherence. The aim of this study is to estimate the impact of the COVID-19-related lockdown on service utilisation and follow-up adherence in an Italian mental health outpatient service for migrants and individuals in socio-economic difficulties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In inflammatory skin conditions, such as psoriasis, vascular enlargement is associated with endothelial cell proliferation, release of cytokines and adhesion molecule expression. Interleukin (IL)-17A is a pro-inflammatory cytokine mainly secreted by T helper-17 cells that is critically involved in psoriasis pathogenesis. IL-36α, IL-36β and IL-36γ are also inflammatory cytokines up-regulated in psoriasis and induced by various stimuli, including IL-17A.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Platelet lysate (PL) contains a cocktail of growth factors and cytokines that promote tissue repair and regeneration. In vitro studies have shown that PL may affect the reparative function of keratinocytes and fibroblasts, but little is known about the effect of PL on immune cells involved in wound healing.

Objectives: To analyse the effects of PL on T cells involved in the wound repair process.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sex and gender may affect disease prevalence, adverse effects and response to therapy.

Aim: To analyse sex and gender differences in outpatients with psoriasis.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at IDI-IRCCS, Rome, over a 3-year period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

These guidelines are a consensus work of a considerable number of members of the immunology and flow cytometry community. They provide the theory and key practical aspects of flow cytometry enabling immunologists to avoid the common errors that often undermine immunological data. Notably, there are comprehensive sections of all major immune cell types with helpful Tables detailing phenotypes in murine and human cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immunomodulation with anti-TNF-α is highly effective in the treatment of various immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). However, this may be responsible for unexpected paradoxical psoriasiform reactions. The pathogenic mechanisms underlying the induction of these events are not clear, even though the involvement of innate immune responses driven by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) has been described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In many contexts, individuals with lower socioeconomic status, especially immigrants, have a higher burden of negative alcohol-related consequences and a higher probability of receiving a psychiatric diagnosis. This study aimed at exploring sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with harmful use of alcohol (HUA) among immigrant patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Rome (Italy) on a sample of 330 immigrant patients admitted to the gastroenterology outpatient clinic of the INMP (March 2013-October 2014).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

IL-36 cytokines, a subgroup of IL-1 family, comprise IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ agonists, abundantly expressed in psoriatic skin, and IL-36RA and IL-38 antagonists. In psoriatic skin, IL-36 cytokines interfere with keratinocyte cornification programs and induce the release of antimicrobial peptides and chemokines active on neutrophils and Th17 lymphocytes. To date, the role of IL-38 antagonist in psoriasis remains to be defined.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Eosin has been traditionally employed as a topical treatment for psoriasis, but the biological mechanism of its therapeutic action has not been fully elucidated.

Objectives: To analyse eosin effects on psoriatic skin in vivo and keratinocytes and endothelial cells in vitro.

Materials & Methods: Skin biopsies were taken from psoriatic plaques before and after a three-day eosin treatment and processed for histological analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF